Chemoinformatics: Directions Toward Combating Neglected Diseases

Low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas have been particularly injured by a group of tropical infections denominated neglected diseases. Compared to important illnesses, neglected diseases do not enjoy significant research funding and are not considerably important targets for the “Big Pharma” ventures in terms of development of new drugs, though these infections can make widespread diseases like AIDS more deadly. Despite affecting millions of people around the world, causing many deaths and having a significant limiting influence on the quality of life of affected people, the selection of new molecular targets and the development of more efficient drugs against those diseases is scarce. Furthermore, little detailed computational work on this subject has appeared. It should be kept in mind, however, that computers are an essential tool in modern medicinal chemistry. Currently, these powerful computational tools allow one to obtain insights on the interaction between enzyme-substrate, reaction mechanisms, statistical behavior of molecules and much more, at the molecular level, contributing significantly to solve problems in biological systems. Chemoinformatics: Directions Toward Combating Neglected Diseases explores an open problem in academic literature with a stimulating discussion on the state of the art knowledge in this important research field with respect to neglected diseases, pointing out perspectives on using molecular modeling and theoretical approaches. This eBook is a handy reference guide for anyone who is interested in or deals with medicinal chemistry focused on neglected diseases, from students to advanced researchers.